Page 26 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

OPENING THE DOOR TO THE WHITE HOUSE

one day, and about an hour into the ride we came to an area where they had
talked about putting in a new trail. So we all, including the president, went
to work. It was fun,” Matheson recalled. “Some people were staking out the
trail, and a couple of others were pulling roots, and a couple of the people
were sweeping leaves and removing small trees and brush. The president
seemed to really enjoy the exercise and camaraderie. I think he believes that
exercise is very important to creating a healthy mind and sound body.”
For Matheson and O’Neill, biking through forests, up and down hills,
and across small rivers with the president was an exhilarating and beauti-
ful experience. “It humanizes the man,” O’Neill said. “You see up close
how much weight is on his shoulders, and I often think how wonderful it
was that he shared his time with us that way.” Apparently, the president
treasured the riding experience just as much as the Fellows did. While giv-
ing a speech at the White House Fellows fortieth anniversary celebration
in 2005, Bush broke from his scripted remarks after spotting O’Neill in
the audience and spoke off the cuff about cycling with “Sweet Lou” and
the other White House Fellows. “Lou had been a captain of the Stanford
biking team, and he felt like he was strong enough to ride with a fifty-nine-
year-old, and it turns out he was strong enough,” President Bush joked. “I
really enjoy it. I get a chance to see the caliber and quality of the Fellows.”
O’Neill’s last ride with the president came in 2006, just before he left Wash-
ington after being named ambassador and head of mission in Moldova by
the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. At thirty-eight,
he was one of that organization’s youngest ambassadors. After leaving that
post in 2008, he went to work as a headquarters manager for Senator
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. In every Fellowship class since
O’Neill’s, President Bush found at least one willing and able cyclist to join
him on his weekend rides.

Being a White House Fellow certainly has its privileges, and one of the
most extraordinary is the remarkable level of access one gains to some of
the world’s most powerful people. Often, as in the case of Lou O’Neill and
Travis Matheson with President Bush, that access extends beyond the
bounds of work. Indeed, some Fellows have become like family to cabinet
members, White House staffers, and even presidents. At the end of their
year in Washington, Fellows typically leave with a deeper perspective on
government and the people who govern.

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